There are a lot of fantastic people connected to sport I could chose to write about in this article, players and managers who have done so much for our society, by helping others that needed some help. But I think that this is the right moment to talk about him. Probably you don’t know him, and it is normal. Not everyone needs to have heard about him. In my case, I have known him since I was eight.
His name is Radja Nainggolan. He is a Belgian player and he is thirty-two years old. Before you ask, no, I’m not going to talk about the way he plays or his career. Despite being an extraordinary player, he is an extraordinary person. And that is what matters to me now.
One year ago,
Radja was playing for Inter Milan, one of the best teams in Italy and in
the world. Unexpectaly, his wife finds out that she has cancer. I can't imagine
what Nainggolan went through during that time, but I imagine having to deal with his woman’s disease and with his niece's death, that also had cancer. With
these horrible things happening in his life, he stopped to think and decided
to go to his hometown’s team, Cagliari, also in Italy. But why Cagliari?
Because it was where his wife was going to start her treatments.
And that’s
why I admire him so much. He didn’t want money or anything like that. He only
wanted to be close to his girlfriend. And that’s something that we have to
learn. Questions like money or something like that don't matter, we have to
do everything for ours. Because otherwise, I’m sure that they would do
the same for us. Enjoy every second with your family because everything can
change in one second, like Radja’s life.
André Dias, student at Lancaster College Póvoa de Varzim
